Installation view at MacDowell Colony, 2024

Stripes

2023 - ongoing

Wearing a pattern is an identity and a statement. Stripes have been a visual clue in my works since 2019, it is a visual language of the united, the sanitized, and the discriminated. Pajamas with stripes are uniforms. 

I think about caretaking - every tiny moment in my daily life. When I put on clothes for my dog, definitely he doesn’t need it, I have to pause to ask myself - “ What’s the point of doing this? Is it for me or is it for him?” Then I realized taking care of somebody is a power.

We refer to the present as post-covid time. It didn’t change the earth that much, but it gave a lesson to humans - how bad we are. I did feel imprisoned during Covid years, we were asked to stay at home, I hated it and I accepted it. We were wearing stripes all the time. We were told to be taken care of, and we lost power.

In 2023, I started making Pajamas with stripes for objects and spaces I noticed - scissors, gloves, windows, snowmen, a fireplace, chairs, etc. My surreal interpretation of making striped uniforms for my surroundings is a way of taking care, reclaiming power, and a rebellion.  This is an ongoing project. The process of dying the raw materials, cutting and sewing together is labor-intensive while meditating.